Auguste-Henri Forel
Auguste-Henri Forel (September 1, 1848 – July 27, 1931) was a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist and psychiatrist, notable for his investigations into the brain structure of humans and ants. For example, he is considered a co-founder of the neuron theory.'Neuron theory, the cornerstone of neuroscience, on the centenary of the Nobel Prize award to Santiago Ram´on y Cajal' Francisco L´opez-Mu˜noz, Jes´us Boya, Cecilio Alamoa. Brain Research Bulletin 70 (2006) doi:10.1016/j.brainresbull.2006.07.010 391–405 Forel is also known for his early contributions to sexology. From 1978 until 2000 Forel’s image appeared on the 1000 Swiss franc banknote.André Parent: Auguste Forel on Ants and Neurology in The Canadian Journal Of Neurological Sciences, Volume 30, No. 3 – August 2003 Biography Born in LaGracieuse, near Morges, Switzerland, Forel had a diverse and mixed career as a thinker on many subjects. He was appointed professor of psychiatry in 1879 at the University of Zurich Medical School. He not only ran the Burghölzli asylum there, but continued to publish papers on insanity, prison reform, and social morality. Forel named his home as La Fourmilière —the Ant Colony.Sleigh, Charlotte (2007) Six legs better : a cultural history of myrmecology. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8445-4 Around 1900 Forel was a eugenicist.The Survival of the Fittest, Chapter II Forel suffered a stroke that paralyzed his right side in 1912, but he taught himself to write with his left hand and was able to continue his studies. By 1914 he was a good friend of the eminent British entomologist Horace Donisthorpe, with whom he stayed in Switzerland;The Entomologist's Record, vol XXV, Nos 1-2 (1915) his ardent socialist views frequently caused political arguments between the two. After hearing of the religion from his son in law, in 1920 he became a member of the Bahá'í Faith, abandoning his earlier racist and socialist views saying, p.375}} In 1921 he received a letter from `Abdu'l-Bahá about the differences between the mineral, vegetable, animal and human worlds, the spiritual nature of man and proofs of the existence of God. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablet to Dr. Forel He died in Yvorne at age 82. Scientific work His myrmecological five-volume magnum opus, Le Monde Social des Fourmis, was published in 1923. Donisthorpe heavily criticises it in the foreword to the 1927 edition of British Ants: their life history and classification, saying of the work: He first described in 1877 the zona incerta area in the brain. He gave it this name as it a “region of which nothing certain can be said”. Forel International School is named after him. Works Partial List *''Les Fourmis de la Suisse, Systématique, notices anatomiques et physiologiques, architecture, distribution géographique, nouvelles expériences et observations de moeurs''. Bale, Genève, Lyon, H. Georg. (1874). *Ameisen aus Sumatra, Java, Malacca und Ceylon. Gesammelt V.Prof. Dr. V. Buttel Reepen in den Jahren, 1911-1912. Zool. Jahrd.Jena Abt. F.Syst. 36: 1-148.(1913). *Fourmis de Rhodesia, etc. recoltees par M. Arnold, le Dr. H. Brauns et K. Fikendey. Annales de la Societe Entomologique de Belgique. 57: 108-147.(1913). *''Le monde social des fourmis du globe comparé à celui de l’homme''.Genève, Kundig, 1921-1923, 5 volumes (1921-1923). References Category:Swiss entomologists Category:Swiss psychiatrists Category:Swiss neuroscientists Category:Sexologists